ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV.com) – Twenty people were killed in St. Louis City throughout the month of April, bringing the yearly total homicide count to 60.Of those 60 homicides, charges have been filed against suspects in 19 cases, police said.According to officials, the number of homicides at this point in the year has doubled over the past two years.St. Louis City Police said crime is up across the board. There has been a 43 percent increase in robberies, 15 percent increase in aggravated assaul...More >

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV.com) – Twenty people were killed in St. Louis City throughout the month of April, bringing the yearly total homicide count to 60.Of those 60 homicides, charges have been filed against suspects in 19 cases, police said.According to officials, the number of homicides at this point in the year has doubled over the past two years.St. Louis City Police said crime is up across the board. There has been a 43 percent increase in robberies, 15 percent increase in aggravated assaul...More >

After a homicide is reported, Chief Dotson said officers talk to witnesses, friends and family members. He said police also conduct ballistics testing, which takes a week to get results, and DNA testing, which can take up to eight weeks.

Chief Dotson mentioned that television crime shows make solving a crime appear to take less time but that is not the reality.

“It's a time labor intensive process and TV has not done us any favors in the way they've glorified that in making it sexy and sensational, our officers do a great job. They roll up their sleeves every day, they go to work, they try to solve crimes. But it's not done instantaneously,” Chief Dotson said.

Nineteen of the 60 homicides so far this year in the City of St. Louis have been solved, police said.